Milwaukee County

Former police union head DeBraska target of forgery investigation

Criminal Complaint: Download the criminal complaint filed against DeBraskaDocuments: View the documents in question. The first is the letter found by investigators on the Milwaukee Police Association computer, which they say was created in 2004 but had a 1999 date on it. The second one is the same letter, but on letterhead of former Common Council President John Kalwitz with his signature. The second one was used in a pension lawsuit filed by the union against the city.

Bradley DeBraska, the former president of the politically powerful Milwaukee police union, is the target of a criminal forgery investigation involving a pension lawsuit document, according to sources familiar with the case.

Criminal charges against DeBraska are expected as early as today, the sources said.

Contacted late Thursday, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm said, "I can't comment on it."

Asked if he was hired by DeBraska, prominent defense attorney Gerald Boyle declined to comment, citing rules against discussing what happens at secret John Doe proceedings.

"Until it is concluded, it is inappropriate to make any statement," Boyle said.

A John Doe began earlier this year and continued this week before Circuit Judge David Hansher.

DeBraska, 53, a detective for 27 years, did not return calls to his home for comment.

For 17 of those years, he was president of the Milwaukee Police Association before retiring in 2005

A John Doe hearing is a judicially supervised inquiry, usually conducted in secret, into whether a crime has been committed and who may have committed it.

The investigation is focused on documents in a lawsuit by the Milwaukee Police Association and the Milwaukee Police Supervisors Organization against the city.

The police unions had agreed in 2000, as part of a larger pension settlement, that pension system computer upgrades could be paid for from pension funds.

Union lawsuits in 2003 and 2006, however, claimed the city reneged on a promise not to spend more than $2 million to $3 million in pension funds on those upgrades. The city disputed that a cap was put on the computer upgrade.

The police officers union is no longer a party to the remaining lawsuit, which remains open with the police supervisors union as the lead plaintiff. That case also is before Hansher.

Investigators have been examining one or more documents from then-Common Council President John Kalwitz to then-Mayor John Norquist and other officials, sources said.

The correspondence in question backs up the union's position, they said.

Kalwitz, who lives in Nevada, did not return messages left at his home.

City Attorney Grant Langley declined to comment late Thursday.

William Rettko, attorney for the supervisors union, said he was unaware of the DeBraska investigation.

But Rettko said if any of the Kalwitz letters were forged, he thinks there are other documents that support the union's core claim that the computer costs were capped.

Milwaukee Ald. Michael Murphy, a member of the city Employees' Retirement System, Annuity and Pension Board, said he became aware of the investigation into DeBraska but had not personally been interviewed.

"I have always felt the lawsuit was baseless and without merit," Murphy said. "If it was based on fraudulent misleadings of the court, it is an incredible waste of taxpayer dollars and time."

Asked if the city would try to recoup money spent defending the city, Murphy said, "We will explore all options."

DeBraska ran unsuccessfully last spring for Common Council, losing to 13th District Ald. Terry Witkowski.

Known as a shrewd political operator during his union presidency, DeBraska battled former police Chief Arthur Jones, Norquist and others. He served on the city Pension Board and was appointed to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents by then-Gov. Tommy G. Thompson.

DeBraska is chairman of the Police Officer Defense Fund, a nonprofit founded to pay the attorneys of officers facing civil or criminal liability; support families of deceased officers; and buy law-enforcement equipment, according to its Web site.

About John Diedrich

John Diedrich writes about crime, federal issues, ultimate fighting and guns. His investigations have been honored with various national awards including a George Polk Award for reporting on rogue gun stores and an IRE award for exposing botched undercover federal stings.